Hi,
I am new to this website and new to brewing tea using leaves in general. I received my sample and ingenuiTea and have been noticing that some teas are best when the water temp is at a particular number.
How can I determine the temperature of the water?
Thank you,

Depending on the variety of oolong, the tea should be prepared with either boiling water (easy to gauge) or 180 degrees (same temperature for green teas). Please refer to the following article for instructions on how to achieve this temp:

As stated earlier boiling water is easy to tell, but for the greens and such I usually just boil the water then take it off the heat and let it sit for about five minutes. When I do this I just put the water on and when it boils I start getting out my kettle or cup and tea. By the time I have everything ready I just pour it right in. Bingo! No extra equipment or measurements.

Don't worry so much about getting it exactly as it should be. You'll find that you enjoy it much better once you find out what you like and not what is correct. You might find you don't like it the correct way.

I am that way about Jasmine Green tea. It gets better the longer it brews. I know I shouldn't brew it longer that six or so minutes but one time I forgot and let it sit for about twenty minutes and found out that it was mighty fine that way. Play.

a thermometer gets it exactly right every time. if u want to adjust your temperature just adjust your temperature, and then u can get that new temperature u like every single time. my electric kettle heats up about 8 cups of water from room temp to 180 in about two minutes. if i forget to measure the temp and let it boil, it takes about 10 minutes to come down to temperature because it is very well insulated. on the other hand, a thermometer takes virtually no effort or time.

I thought I would mention with an electric tea kettle you still should boil your water then let it come down to desired temperature by checking with your thermometer. Reason being, when water boils, it chemically introduces oxygen. This is important because if you don't let your water boil the oxygen magic will not happen, hence, your tea will be flat. Additionally, it is equally important not to over boil your water - just a quick rolling boil, take it off the fire and let it come to the desired temperature naturally.

So, now my question - why would anyone invest all the money into a electric tea pot when, for ideal tea, you still have to bring your water to a rolling boil and let cool. I just use a Mauviel copper 1 qt. sauce pan with a built in spout, put it on the gas fire, boil and bring it down to temperature using my digital thermometer - no mess, spills and wicked easy and actually enjoyable. The whole process takes around five minutes. I guess electric kettles are predominately used for matter of convenience correct? However, I'm not sure that heating water to 180 degrees then immeditaly steeping produces the best tasting tea because what I mentioned above fails to happen.

You should be able to pull off an electric kettle trick if you are willing to experiment with a stove top. They are adjustable in the amount of heat they provide, of course. And if you can find that just-right setting where it will heat the water to only 180 degrees then you're set. Problem is, this setting will change depending on the container you use to heat the water in and the amount of water being heated.

My preferred method is a digital food thermometer with the long metal spike on a cord. You can submerge the entire thing into the water, it won't damage it. Since the spike is so long, it penetrates a good deal of the volume of the water and as such will take a pretty accurate reading of the entire body as a whole. You can set an alarm so that it beeps slowly as it approaches 180 degrees and beeps rapidly at 180 degrees, so you will be ready to pour by the time it gets there. They also usually feature an adjustable timer. And there you have it, a perfect cuppa. They can be had for about $20.